Time flies when you are busy and I’m afraid it was way back in 2013 since my last proper blog. To be fair I have posted news of two new books, The Wyche Way and Striding Around Ross in the meanwhile. It’s been an eventful time but regrettably not all good news in that in 2014 my right knee started to pain me, in sympathy with the left knee, on which I had keyhole surgery in 2010. The same surgeon did tell me that no two knees are the same and of course he was proved right, when after the op, the right knee was still not up to any of my longer (LDWA) walks.

Resting on the good knee at Dumbleton war memorial

I still had quite a lot of work to do on The Wyche Way but fortunately this was organized, in reasonable stages, and I was able to do my final recess, and also the waymarking, without too much problem. We were originally hoping to open The Wyche Way in the Spring of this year to coincide with The Malvern Walking Festival but not only were we not quite ready but Kington Walkers also said that they would like to make it the focal point of their festival in September.

For a small little unsung town Kington has a great deal of enthusiasm for walking and they really did us proud. They organized Kate Ashbrook, who is The President of The Ramblers, to officially open the trail and all the local newspapers carried advance notice of the opening. The weather was fine on the day and there was a crowd of over a hundred milling around the Market Place. Speeches were made by the lady Mayor of Kington, Kate Ashbrook, and I managed a few words as well. I led the walking party off on the first stage followed by 60 local schoolchildren who were just doing the first couple of miles. Nearly at the end of this stage, just before Weobley, is a fine old timbered house called The Ley, which has some Elizabethan origins. I received an email from the owners about a month before the walk saying that they had heard of this inaugural walk and would the party appreciate some tea and cakes, which certainly made a very nice finish to the day.

Broadway Tower – one of the impressive monuments you can see on The Wyche Way

The book has been very well received and we have got copies into over ten shops and tourist information centres along the route (you can also buy it here too!). We have received quite a lot of interest from walking groups who are making plans to include it in their programmes for next year. It has also been adopted by a new Worcestershire walking holiday company Black Pear Walking Tours, so the future for the trail looks bright.

Apart from The Wyche Way I had also agreed to lead for Cheltenham Ramblers on another LD trail, The Geopark Way, which starts up in Shropshire at Bridgnorth and finishes down in Gloucester with much interesting terrain on the way. I got interested in this when I was having tea at the aptly named 02 cafe at The Geopark Centre, which is coincidently right by the Wyche Cutting, which, of course, The Wyche Way passes. The owner is presently organizing a large poster of The Wyche Way to go on the wall of the café alongside the existing Geopark displays.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had been able to get back to my timber trade roots by purchasing a small piece of woodland in the Blackdown Hills. I had an unofficial option at the time to also purchase another adjoining piece which I did in 2014. I have named them Upper and Lower Harding Woods, after an old Somerset family, whom my family married into in the mid 1800’s. The lower wood does not have so many quality trees but does enjoy great views across to the The Quantock Hills in the north. We have had to do quite a lot of work to establish a new vehicular entrance but there is a short footpath that crosses this wood so we have widened it and provided a stone surface, which was rather fitting, in that I was therefore able to improve a footpath, rather than being critical of the condition, as I have often done on walks in the past. We have also cleared quite a few of the obiquitous birch trees to further improve the views and where I intend to put up a rather larger shed (could be a lodge) in the Spring of next year so that even if I cannot walk quite so much as I might like, I can easily travel down the motorway, and seek solace in my woods.